Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
to submit to their husbands and
did not float down from heaven
keep silent in church, reason
“There is nothing in the
perfect and without error. They
and experience taught otherwise.
cosmos
that
escapes
Jesus’
were written by men, and those
Despite Catholic and evangel-
knowledge; and not because
men made mistakes.”
ical resistance, more and more
In just a few words, Thomas has
of today’s churches are elevating
He learned it all but because
denied the position of the believing
women to positions of leadership
He
created
it
all.
”
Church since its inception —that
and authority.”
the Scriptures are holy and stand as
Thomas has now moved away
the inspired, authoritative Word of
from the word “revelation” and
the living God. This is an explicit denial of sola Scriptura.
instead used “reason and experience” as his authorities for
We can at least credit Thomas for his candor—he does not
truth and meaning. He continues to argue, “Churches will
hedge nor equivocate. In his view, the Bible has simply erred.
continue hemorrhaging members and money at an alarm-
Moreover, Thomas dismisses a fantastical view of inspira-
ing rate until we muster the courage to face the truth: we
tion that in no way accords with the Bible’s internal witness.
got it wrong on gays and lesbians. This shouldn’t alarm or
He depicted Christian belief in the inspiration of the Scrip-
surprise us. We have learned some things that the ancients—
tures as the sacred writings floating down from heaven.
including Moses and Paul—simply did not know. Not even
Of course, Christians do not believe the Bible simply
Jesus, who was fully human and therefore limited to what
descended from the heavens. The Apostle Peter told us
first-century humans knew, could know about cancer,
that “no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man,
schizophrenia, atomic energy, and a million other things the
but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the
centuries have taught us.”
Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 2:1). Furthermore, the Apostle Paul wrote
This amounts to a complete rejection and full broadside
that “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for
assault against the authority of the Bible. Truth is defined
teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
by the subjective emotivism rather than the enduring and
righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16).
objective truth from the transcendent God. Thomas conde-
This is the verbal, plenary inspiration of Scripture—the
scendingly dismisses Moses and Paul as inspired authors
Bible did not spiral out of the heavens but came as God’s
and instead depicts them as any other ancients bound by a
unfolding revelation through the ages. The Holy Spirit guid-
pre-modern, harmful worldview.
ed human authors to write His holy, infallible, inerrant, and
But Thomas does not merely throw Moses and Paul under
inspired Word. Thomas rightly stated that the Scriptures
the bus. He lumps Jesus—the divine logos, very God of very
were indeed written by men. He fails to recognize, however,
God—into the same category of an antiquated ancient figure
that God protected the authors of Scripture from error.
with no authority to speak into the issues of modernity.
The impetus of Thomas’ charge is moral. The Bible does
Yes, Jesus was truly man, but He was also truly God.
not correspond to his moral and ethical worldview, which
His humanity does not mean He did not know all there is
celebrates the entire array of the LGBTQ spectrum. The
to know, except for what the Father had not yet told Him
sexual revolution has no compatibility with the Bible—so
regarding the date upon which He would return. In John
the Scriptures must be tossed out as erroneous artifacts of
chapter two, the Apostle tells us that Jesus knew everything.
a bygone age.
He did not need to be told what was in man because He
A new revelation has come. This revelation demands the
had made man. There is nothing in the cosmos that escapes
normalization of the LGBTQ morality. The Church has been
Jesus’ knowledge; and not because He learned it all but
wrong for two thousand years because the Bible was wrong.
because He created it all.
Thomas tries to cite an oft-deployed argument from liber-
Near his conclusion, Oliver Thomas argues, “It’s difficult
al Protestants against the evangelical position on biblical
to watch good people (and the churches are full of them)
sexuality. Not long ago, the Church defended slavery and
buy into the sincere but misguided notion that being a faith-
segregation because the Bible led them there. When Chris-
ful Christian means accepting everything the Bible teaches.”
tians liberated themselves from the authority of the Bible,
This is a rejection of the Church’s very responsibility;
they realized the evils of slavery and segregation.
indeed, this is a rejection of the responsibility of every
We can see what Oliver Thomas is doing, but the Chris-
thoughtful Christian and disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
tians who pressed heroically for the end of slavery and the
The existence of the Scriptures means that our God speaks,
slave trade did not argue that the Bible was in error.
He speaks truth, and He has revealed Himself that we
Thomas also cites the Bible’s teaching regarding women.
might know Him. It is, therefore, our responsibility to study
Thomas writes, “While the Apostle Paul ... exhorted women
the Bible, to understand its spectacular unfolding of God’s
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